Taxonomy term

volcano

The Azores, a volcanic island chain spanning more than 600 kilometers, may be diminutive and difficult to find on the map, but the islands offer oversize opportunities for sightseeing and adventure that are sure to appeal to almost any traveler, particularly those with an eye for natural and geologic scenery.

Lunar observers have long noted mysterious “swirls,” patterns of alternating bright and dark shading, adorning the lunar surface. The popular Reiner Gamma formation — first described by Renaissance astronomers and now beloved by backyard astronomy enthusiasts — is one such lunar swirl.

An active volcano in central Ecuador may be the largest musical instrument on Earth: After eruptions in 2015, Cotopaxi’s newly configured crater started emitting distinctly musical rumblings that scientists may be able to use to monitor future activity at the volcano.

When Scott Rowland returned to his home on Oahu after earning a bachelor’s degree in geology at Oregon State University, intent on heading to graduate school, he was torn between studying volcanoes or groundwater. Ultimately, he chose to study Hawaii’s basalt lavas as a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

In recent years, volcanic activity at Nicaragua’s Masaya Volcano has been relatively benign, with small eruptive episodes occasionally producing a lava lake in a summit crater that has become one of the country’s top tourist attractions.

Indonesia is a lushly beautiful and tectonically active country that is prone to natural disasters, including eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, floods, tornadoes and landslides. What is the country doing to monitor and prepare for such hazards and are those efforts working?

Underwater volcanic eruptions happen every day, but because of the vastness of the ocean and the great depth of water blocking the view, catching an active eruption is a game of chance. In fact, the largest-known underwater eruption of the past century was something of a fluke discovery. In July 2012, an airline passenger spotted a huge pumice raft floating in the South Pacific during a flight to Auckland, New Zealand. Upon landing, she alerted researchers, and scientists confirmed the 400-square-kilometer pumice raft near the Havre Seamount using NASA satellite imagery.

On May 29, 2006, a massive mud eruption in East Java, Indonesia, began spewing as much as 180,000 cubic meters — the volume of 72 Olympic-sized swimming pools — of hot muddy debris each day from several vents, quickly burying nearby villages and forcing the relocation of more than 60,000 people. Almost 12 years later, the eruption, nicknamed Lusi, continues to produce more than 80,000 cubic meters of mud a day, and nobody knows how long the oozing will continue. In a new study, however, scientists have gotten the clearest look yet of the roots of the mud volcano and its possible connection to a nearby volcanic complex that may be driving the eruption.

Most of the world’s lithium is mined in South America and Australia. New research suggests that the United States may have its own untapped lithium supplies in lake deposits in the calderas left behind by large volcanic eruptions. In the study, published in Nature Communications, researchers detail a new way to detect deposits of the silvery white metal in places such as Crater Lake in southern Oregon.